Zheng Xia

Life

In the fourth year of the Zhiping era (1067), he passed the civil-service examination and was appointed judicial assistant in Guang Prefecture. In spring of the fifth year of Xining, after completing his term, he entered the capital and became supervisor of Anshang Gate; he had earlier been a student of Wang Anshi, who held him in esteem, but Zheng repeatedly memorialized that the new policies harmed the people.

During the seventh year of Xining, a prolonged drought left refugees crowding the roads. Zheng presented the *Liumin tu* (流民圖), petitioning for repeal of the new policies; eighteen measures were abandoned the following day, and Wang Anshi was removed as chief councillor and made prefect of Jiangning. When Lü Huiqing took control of the government, Zheng submitted another memorial criticizing him and produced the *Zhengzhi junzi xiequ xiaoren shiye tuji* (正直君子邪曲小人事業圖跡); accused of slandering the court, he was placed under controlled residence. The accounts differ over the place and term: one gives Ting followed by Ying, another twelve years in Ying.

After Zhezong’s accession, Zheng was allowed to return and appointed professor at Quanzhou; in 1093, the eighth year of Yuanyou, he became recorder-assistant at Quanzhou and was entered in the Yuanyou party register. During Yuanfu he was again banished to Ying; the year is given variously as the first year (1098) and the seventh, while one account says the exile lasted three years.

After Huizong’s accession, Zheng was pardoned and returned, restored as professor at Quanzhou, and transferred to supervise the Southern Sacred Peak Temple in Tanzhou; the appointment was rescinded before the edict was issued. He was restored to his former office but then deprived of it by Cai Jing, withdrew to his native place, and never returned to public service. In the fifth year of Chongning (1106), he was restored to the rank of Jiangshilang but still did not return to office. He died in the first year of Xuanhe at the age of seventy-nine; in the early Shaoxi period, Guangzong posthumously awarded him Chaofeng Lang, and in 1213, the sixth year of Jiading, Ningzong conferred on him the posthumous name Jie.

Family and associations

His father was Zheng Yun and his younger brother was Zheng Kan; his sons were Zheng Rushi and Zheng Pang, followed by a grandson, Zheng Jiazhen, and a great-grandson, Zheng Chunnian. His friends included Lin Zichong, Lin Zhongjia, and You Zhongfu; You was described as upright, devoted to justice, and unfailingly true to his word.

Works

His works include *Shang cao che shu* (上漕車書) and *Daqing Jushi xu* (大慶居士序). The *Xitang ji* (西塘集) consists of ten volumes. Related bibliographic titles include *Xitang shichao* (西塘詩鈔), *Xitang shiji* (西塘詩集), and *Xitang ji buchao* (西塘集補鈔); a compilation of his poetry also gathered seven poems outside the collection into a separate fascicle.